Creating Your LinkedIn Profile

If you're wondering how to create a LinkedIn profile, this lesson can help. It offers step-by-step instructions.

Creating your profile

Your profile is the first thing people will see when they find you on LinkedIn. You should treat your profile as you would a resume, taking the time to make sure it is complete, accurate, and professional. LinkedIn also allows you to add things you might not include on a traditional resume, like a profilepicture and personal summary.

Adding profile information

To edit your profile, navigate to your profile page, then select Edit. You can add information to your headline (the information at the top), along with your employment history, education, skills, a summary, and more. You can also click and drag to rearrange the position of each section of your profile. When you're done, select Done Editing.

Adding a profile picture

To add or change your profile picture, select Edit, then select the photo icon. You can upload a photo from your computer and use the sizing handles to adjust the crop. There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a profile photo. Generally speaking, we recommend the following:

Upload a high-quality JPEG file

Make sure you're the only person in the photo

Ensure you're dressed appropriately for your career field—in other words, wear what you'd wear to a job interview

Tips for an effective profile

In our experience, these tips will help complete and improve your profile. Keep in mind that there's no right or wrong way to use LinkedIn, so you'll need to experiment to find what works for you!

Keep your profile up to date: Make sure the information on your LinkedIn profile is up to date and consistent with the details on your resume. This will make it easier for an employer to match your resume with your LinkedIn profile. Also, because a LinkedIn profile doesn't have length restrictions, you can even add details and positions you couldn't fit onto your resume!

Add relevant skills: LinkedIn makes it easy to add skills to your profile page. Examples of skills you might add include problem solving, strong communication, and computer software—think Microsoft Office, Photoshop, QuickBooks, and so on. Your connections can even endorse you for the skills you've added to your profile.

Ask for recommendations: A recommendation is a short comment written by another LinkedIn member that will appear on your profile. When seeking a recommendation, try to reach out to people who are familiar with your talents, skills, and performance in the workplace. You can also review this lesson on Obtaining References from our Job Applications tutorial to learn more about the best way to ask for a recommendation.